Danny Ebers was excited to learn the mandolins he makes had won the Best of Show award at the Hannibal Arts Council’s 37th annual Autumn Historic Folklife Festival on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Ebers, of New London, Mo., was busy explaining the difference between mandolin and guitar music to Dennis and Rusty Benjamin of Fall Creek, Ill.

Food booths attracted long lines on both Saturday and Sunday, as people patiently waited for their favorites, such as kettle corn, funnel cakes, chicken and noodles, and turkey legs.

The fish sandwiches served by the Knights of Columbus were so popular that instead having the lines cross Main Street - as they did on Saturday - on Sunday the line stayed on the west side of North Main Street, and stretched into next block. This permitted the crowd to continue meandering up and down in the middle of the street.

The Best Food award went to the cheese soup sold by the St. John’s Lutheran PTL, where Debbie Holland and Cindy Livesay were busy filling cups for the crowd. Holland said the booth’s success was due to all the people helping make the soup, as well as the good recipe.

Tim Murphy of Hannibal, whose flint knapping won First Place among the exhibitors, travels to Arkansas to quarry his flint and crystal. He also goes to buffalo farms in Iowa for his buffalo bones.

Sam Walker, the bagpiper who led the children’s folklife parade earlier Saturday, was selecting a crystal necklace made by Murphy.

Second Place among exhibitors was won by Josh McCurdy of Hannibal, a member of the Alliance Gallery. His pottery Jack O’Lanterns looked very real. McCurdy took 30 of them to the festival Saturday and had only a few left by 4:30 p.m.

HAC President Tamra Perry selected another pottery booth for the President’s Award. This was the work of Jeanne Scott and her husband, Eric Zumwalt, of Green Castle, Mo. She makes the pottery and he makes the stands. Her favorite piece is a large “copper red” platter.

Hannibalians often make the folklife festival a family occasion, such as Betty and Skip Wells, who were joined by their son and daughter-in-law, Greg and Jeanne Wells of St. Louis.

Children are big

part of festival

A children’s parade led by bagpiper Sam Walker launched the folklife festival. Some children dressed in costume for the parade, such as third-grader Katelynn Teigen, who enjoyed donning her bonnet and apron as Becky Thatcher.

Katelynn later enjoyed all the events in the children’s area, especially pushing a hoop with a stick. She also made a headband, a clothespin doll and a macaroni necklace. And she had a flower and butterfly painted on her face.

Page 2 of 2 - She and her family enjoyed the food, including bread pudding and funnel cakes. As for the cheese soup, “it was delicious,” Katelynn declared.

Anther girl, 7-year-old Jorie Thompson, with her mother, Celia Thompson, explained she “liked it when they painted my face.”

Olivia Ranner, 3, of St. Peters, enjoyed the sack races, and Phillip Ryan of O’Fallon concentrated as he hammered a picture with a nail.

Michael Gaines, HAC executive director, acknowledged the City of Hannibal did its best to have the sidewalks and North Main Street done in time for the festival, with only one side of one block of the street unpaved. “We express our appreciation for the new streets and sidewalks in downtown Hannibal,” Gaines said.

“We are glad to be the first event that had the opportunity to use them,” Gaines added. “Though not completely done, we were able to work with it.”

For more photos, see Seen on Scene photo gallery and also see video of the festival on hannibal.net.